On July 7, Loki episode 5 "Journey into Mystery" aired on Disney+. As with past episodes of the show, Loki episode 5 featured a ton of Easter Eggs for comic fans, MCU fans, and more. New theories about Kang have cropped up and more, with the show moving ever closer to its end. However, eagled-eye video game fans also noticed one small detail in the background.
Specifically, when at the Kid Loki Hideout, there's a Polybius arcade machine in the background throughout the scene. If that doesn't sound like a typical arcade game like Pac-Man or Donkey Kong, that's because it isn't. It's actually one of gaming's longest running urban legends making an appear in the latest Loki episode.
The original Polybius arcade machines have not been proven to exist, making it perfect for Loki, but it is a video game urban legend that began in early 2000. The urban legend states that Polybius was a government-run game experimented that took place in Portland Oregon in the early 80s. These games would lead to psychoactive and addictive actions on the players' parts, as severe lines would form to play and fights breaking out over who would play next. As a result of the game, player would have side-effects such as amnesia, night terrors, and more. Later, "men in black" would appear at these machines to gather data on its players. Then, one day about month after the arcade games released, the machines just disappear from the market with no proof of ever existing.
The "company" associated with the Polybius machine was known as Sinnesloschen, which is German but not quite German. The put-together word would mean "sense delete" or "sensory deprivation" if it were a proper German term or put together in proper German. Beyond this original story, the idea of Polybius would circulate for several years, with anecdotes and rumors of it popping up throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Various rumors and claims would eventually inspire the gameplay in developer Rogue Synapse's creation of a Polybius mock-up based on the urban myth.
Of course, Polybius is just one of many video game urban legends, and the Loki showrunners could have picked just about any to fit in the show. Whether it was Minecraft's Herobrine, Pokemon's Lavender Town music, or others, there's certainly plenty to choose from. On a speculative angle, the Polybius machine likely fits into the lore Loki is building the best.
As everything should happen according to the Timekeeper's sacred timeline and there being certain events and ways around that exactly, Polybius would make sense as something that exists that shouldn't. The events in the real world, at least according to the legend, could also be explained as a Loki nexus event (of big proportions if so). Either way, it's an interesting Easter egg and one deeply rooted in video game culture.
Loki is streaming now on Disney Plus.